When the Sun Falls Out of the Sky
by v1olinh3ro
Summary: jinchuuriki kakashi
1. Nebular Collapse

Kakashi ran as fast as his gangly fourteen-year-old legs could carry him. Translocation was a risk he couldn't take, because his chakra was running low and he might need it to protect his sensei and his sensei's wife from the demon ravaging their village. He pulled down his mask and took another soldier pill.

 _Which makes how many in barely an hour? Fuck it all to hell_ , Kakashi thought. _We just got out of a war. We can't handle this!_

Breathless, Kakashi made it to the cave where Minato-sensei and Kushina were bunkered down. Sweat beaded on both of their brows, and blood streaked Minato's hands and Kushina's...everything. She looked almost peacefully asleep, but there was no rise and fall of her chest, no earthshaking snores. Kakashi gave himself a few seconds to grieve, then shuttered his emotions away. He tried to maintain eye-contact with Minato out of respect for Kushina. A baby with a flash of yellow hair cried in Minato's arms. For the time being, Kakashi paid it no mind.

"Ah, Kakashi, you're just in time," Minato said, smiling wearily. "There's something I need you to do."

Kakashi dipped into the shinobi's kneel. He had a feeling that this request wasn't from his old teacher, but from the leader of Konohagakure. "Anything, Hokage-sama."

"I can seal the Kyuubi's chakra into another host if we hurry. I fear I'm not going to survive no matter the outcome. The sealing needs a sacrifice. So, Kakashi, will you become the Nine-tails jinchuuriki?"

That wasn't what Kakashi was expecting at all. He opened and closed his mouth, breath caught on phrases ranging from rude to blatantly insubordinate. In the end, though, he knew where his loyalties lay, and if Minato was going to die to save the village, if he was going to pull Kakashi into it, then there was nothing Kakashi could do but kneel there and take it.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi finally replied, hollow-voiced.

In a few minutes, Kakashi was stripped out of his flak vest and jounin blues, his pale, scarred skin and awkward teenage limbs on full display. Quickly, but with deft hands, Minato painted seals onto his body and the cave floor. "Kushina was always better with sealwork," Minato said when he finished, "But this should hold him plenty. Stay here and watch Naruto while I catch that damned Fox."

Despite the fact that Kakashi was practically naked, he still wanted to follow after Minato. He always followed, but this time he stayed. Without anything protecting his vital organs, he would be much more of a hindrance than a help, so he sat there, letting Naruto cry and squirm and swat aimlessly at him.

The commotion outside got louder and louder, sounds of combat interspersed with the Fox's infernal screeching. Kakashi's curiosity outweighed his sense of self-preservation, so he swaddled the baby in his discarded clothes and wandered to the mouth of the cave. There, he could see Minato facing off with a man in an orange mask while struggling to maintain his leash on the Kyuubi. The Fox itself had destroyed several acres of Shodai's forest so far in its thrashing. A giant foot destroyed a house, another destroyed a part of the Wall, and Kakashi couldn't stop his heart from skipping a beat though he knew the vulnerable populations had already been evacuated.

Neither the masked man nor Minato seemed to notice Kakashi was watching, and he was _done_ being frozen by fear. He pushed his hair away from his face and blinked open his Sharingan eye. Kakashi zeroed in on the shinobi Minato was fighting. Immediately, he recognized the man as an Uchiha due to the blue trail his eye left behind, but there was something familiar about him that Kakashi couldn't quite place.

Kakashi knew he would only have one shot at this if he wanted to save Minato, and he'd have to directly disobey him. Again. The chidori was forbidden from use after he'd used it to kill Rin, but it was the only jutsu fast enough to strike home. He watched the two men exchange strike and parry until he found a pattern, and _there_ -

Never in his life had Kakashi flipped through handseals that quickly. He ran out, ducked under the masked man's swinging arm, and sank his fist home. Bone crunched, blood fizzled, and the man's mask cracked.

"Obito?" Kakashi said hoarsely. He was splattered with the other man's blood. "But...why?"

Obito laughed shortly, once, "You're really living up to your reputation, huh?" and his head dipped forward as the light left his eyes.

Kakashi sank to his knees, Obito's body sliding off of his hand with a slurping sound, and tried his best to slow his erratic breathing, but control was spiraling away. The fight was not over, they hadn't won yet, and this wasn't even the most exhausting thing Kakashi was going to do today.

Minato watched him, then silently placed a hand on his shoulder. "The body needs to be saved for Intel, and we need to hurry."

Kakashi swallowed, nodded. He hoisted Obito's lifeless body over his shoulder and scurried back inside the cave, where he propped it against the wall. He lay himself back down in the center of spiraling seals. Minato knelt at Kakashi's side and Kakashi craned his neck so that his Sharingan eye could record the jutsu. Chakra molded this way, bending here-

It felt like Kakashi was on fire. The Nine-tails's screams reached a fever pitch and Kakashi felt something inside him moving aside, making room. The chakra in his own roached pathways was no match for the Demon's. He couldn't help the gasps and groans that escaped him, everything was very hot and too much, burning and pain coursing through his veins, and he wanted it to _stop_ \- but he had to do this. For Konohagakure. For Minato most of all.

Finally, Minato took his hands away from Kakashi's stomach, looking like a man who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, even on his deathbed. Sealing a demon requires a sacrifice, after all. He smiled weakly at Kakashi.

"You'll take care of Naruto for me." It wasn't a question, or an order. There was nothing Kakashi wouldn't do for Minato, no matter how much he might hate himself afterwards.

Kakashi nodded, then helped his teacher hobble over to his dead wife, picking Naruto up along the way. Minato's chakra was a mere fraction of what it had been, dwindling lower by the second. Kakashi had always compared it to the sun, but it was barely enough to light a candle now.

Kakashi looked at the squalling infant in his bloody arms and briefly wondered if this little thing was worth all the fuss. He made himself watch the last moments of Minato's life, he owed him at least that much.

And then, Kakashi was alone in a cave with an infant, a demon, and three dead bodies.


	2. Protostar

Kakashi knew exactly how long he had been sitting in that cave naked with a crying infant on his lap, all shinobi know how to track time with heartbeats, but he still had no inclination to move. He knew there was something he was supposed to be doing, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what. He remembered Minato-sensei had given him the day off. There was no mission, no plan to follow.

"Hatake?" Sandaime-sama's voice echoed off of the cave walls strangely. He entered flanked by four ANBU guards. "What the hell?"

"I killed Obito and his body needs to be taken to Intel. Kushina died when the seal was broken. Minato-sensei sealed the Kyuubi into me, and left his son in my care." Kakashi's voice was clipped. His nose picked up a scent that told him he wasn't doing a very good job as babysitter, but the cavalry had come, so he really didn't give a shit about parenting at the moment.

Hiruzen took a deep breath and knelt at Kakashi's side. "I suppose I'm coming out of retirement, for the time being. Hand the child to me and get dressed, Hatake. Intel is going to want to talk to you."

Kakashi held Naruto closer for a split second. Minato had asked _him_ to take care of the infant, not anyone else, but common sense won out. Kakashi handed Naruto to Hiruzen, his limbs creaking from being frozen in the same position for twenty-seven minutes and forty-five seconds. He nearly immediately pulled his knees up under his chin, strategically hiding the seals on his stomach. Hiruzen sighed, and one of the ANBU fetched Kakashi his clothes.

"Thanks," Kakashi grunted, getting dressed quickly, but not as quick as usual. The guard, in a rare display of emotion for a shinobi, squeezed Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the stark white mask with a single red crescent cutting across it, and the guard shrugged his broad, muscled shoulders before returning to his post.

Clothes went a long way towards making Kakashi feel somewhat normal again, but the pulse of unfamiliar chakra grinding on his pathways kept reminding him how quickly his world had fallen apart. He found himself reaching for the baby, which was handed back to him with a clean diaper and a more placated mood.

Kakashi nearly laughed to himself, but the solid weight of the boy seemed to be the only comfort, now. Try as he might, he couldn't blame Naruto for what happened, but he could sure as hell blame Minato and Kushina for...producing...him. Or Obito for getting involved.

The ANBU sealed each body into a scroll. Then, the sullen party of six plus Naruto left the cave, two of the ANBU and Hiruzen translocating away. The remaining two ANBU, one in a Tanuki mask with a silky brown ponytail, and the moon-masked man from earlier, offered Kakashi a ride-along translocation. His chakra was guttering low enough that he didn't want to risk translocating himself and a baby on his own, lest he invoke the Kyuubi's chakra. He sighed and let them grab him.

To Kakashi's utter dismay, he wasn't taken to his jounin apartment, but to ANBU HQ, on the top of Hokage Mountain. "I have to take care of Minato-sensei's son," he complained.

Tanuki held his arms out. "We can handle it while Intel questions you."

Kakashi looked suspiciously at the open palms that had probably killed infants before, then acquiesced. "If you harm him," Kakashi promised, letting the edge of a snarl enter his voice, "I will _end you_."

Tanuki seemed like the kind of man who received threats on a daily basis. "Don't worry your fluffy head about it. Now go, before they shit the bed waiting for you."

Kakashi huffed, then pushed inside of ANBU HQ, making his way towards the Intel division. He'd been there once before, when he filled out his application for this Fall's ANBU Trials, which were scheduled to happen in exactly one week. At this point, Kakashi doubted anything would be on schedule, so he added it to his own mental list of counter-questions for Intel. In his experience, debriefings were more fun when you had information of your own to extract.

As Kakashi rounded a corner, he dodged a tall stack of papers carried by one Yuuhi Kurenai. His hopes of evading her were dashed when she spun to face him.

"I was looking for you, Kakashi-kun," she said, deadpan.

"An intern is my debriefer. Where the hell is everyone else?"

"Investigating the Kyuubi attack in Yondaime-sama's bunker. Follow me." The fifteen-year-old kunoichi stalked past Kakashi, thick hair billowing out behind her and smelling overwhelmingly of teak and vanilla.

Kakashi coughed, following at her heels. "You normally smell like ink and paper. What did you do? Roll around in a meadow of vanilla plants?"

"It's called perfume, Kakashi-kun. Some people find it pleasant." She reached a door that looked exactly like all the others and held it open, locking it behind Kakashi after he entered. "And I know that you're not accustomed to it yet, but could you at least try suppressing your chakra? It's giving me a migraine."

"Oh, my apologies that the _demon in my stomach_ is giving you a headache," Kakashi growled. Kurenai gave him a look that said she was a hundred and ten percent done with everything, and especially him. Good, hopefully this debriefing would be short.

Kakashi sat in the hard plastic chair and Kurenai took her seat in the rolling chair behind the small wooden desk. There were dark circles under her eyes and her lipstick was faded. Kakashi had never seen her looking anything but fresh-faced and her appearance was almost as jarring as the death of his mentor.

Almost.

"Tell me everything you know," Kurenai said redundantly.

Kakashi started from the beginning, when he first realized something was wrong. This wasn't his first debriefing, he knew what was important and what could be left out. When he was done, he cocked his head, trying to get a better read on Kurenai.

"Are the ANBU Trials still going to be next week?"

"No, but even if they were, you're disqualified on medical leave indefinitely," Kurenai replied shortly, reorganizing her notes.

"Why the fuck am I on medical leave? There's not a scratch on me!"

Kurenai blinked slowly, oozing her disappointment from every pore. "Think with that incredible brain of yours, boy-genius. You just became the Nine-Tails' jinchuuriki, and no one has any way of knowing how you'll acclimate. The rest of the village has no idea what just happened to you, and it's _my_ goddamn job to craft a believable story. If anyone asks, you say that your chakra gates got injured in the fight, so now you can't suppress it."

"Am I even allowed on miss- from the look on your face that's a no."

"Gold star for the bright lad. You are not to leave Konohagakure's borders without supervision and a damn good reason. Three ANBU guards are assigned to your watch - one should be waiting for you outside." Kakashi stood up to leave, but Kurenai grabbed him. "Keep in mind, Kakashi-kun, you're not the only one who's grieving."

Kakashi yanked his arm out of her grasp and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, alright. Whatever." He left the room with a bastardized salute over his left shoulder and wound his way back to the front doors of ANBU HQ.

A woman with tan skin, vibrant scarlet hair, and a panther mask stood outside under the buzzing florescent lights. It was past midnight, and the October chill was beginning to set in, but Kakashi could sense no shiver from her.

"C'mon brat, your stuff's already been moved back to the Hatake compound," the ANBU said, holding her arm out.

"Why can't I stay in my apartment?" Kakashi crossed his arms. He had been putting up with a lot of bullshit today, and his anger felt very close to the surface.

"Two people could barely fit in one of those concrete cells, let alone four plus an infant. Your choice, we translocate or we walk, but you're going to take a damn shower before the sun rises."

"And if I don't?"

Panther grabbed Kakashi by the elbow. "I remind you where your loyalties lie. My subordinates and I can easily make this stay very unpleasant for you."

Like a true nuisance, Panther translocated the two of them to the front gate of the Hatake compound before finally removing her hold on him. Kakashi stalked up to the house without another word, and the sound of a crying infant got louder the closer he got. He opened the front door to see Tanuki frantically rocking a red-faced Naruto in his arms, while Crescent Moon dug through a diaper bag.

"Are you sure he's clean?" Crescent Moon asked frantically.

"Yes, I just changed him!" Tanuki looked up from the minor crisis and saw Kakashi gaping in the doorway. Or, what counted for gaping when three-quarters of your face was covered. "Oh. Hi, taichou."

Panther steepled her gloved hands. "I left you two alone for twenty minutes. How- you know what? I don't want to know."

Kakashi stepped over the threshold, glancing around at the chaos that had enveloped his childhood home. The bloodstain on the floor was covered by a throw rug that clashed spectacularly with the furniture, which had been pushed to the walls, and there were three bedrolls lain out on the floor. He looked at Tanuki, who stilled under his gaze.

Kakashi sighed. "Let me take him."

Tanuki looked down at the screaming baby, then nodded and handed it over to Kakashi. "Your problem now, buddy."

Kakashi didn't know the first thing about caring for children, but he was good at copying, so he lightly rocked Naruto the way he had seen Tanuki doing, and that eventually quelled the boy's sobs. He looked at Naruto in shock, who smacked an open palm against Kakashi's chest, then yawned, revealing a violently pink mouth before passing out. Something in Kakashi bent-

Crescent Moon snorted. "Guess he likes Social Delinquent-san better than you, huh, Tanuki?"

Kakashi was still having a revelation. "I don't know what I did."

"What a touching moment," Panther interrupted, "But I'm going to lay some ground rules. Since we're on duty in the village, family names are acceptable. Use mask names if you want, I don't care. The room at the end of the hall has the least windows, so that will be the nursery and the only room you can unmask in. Make sure the curtains are fully drawn. If I think of something else, I'll let you all know. Now, I'll take first watch while Hatake gets clean."

"What should I do with the baby?" Kakashi's eye scanned the room, but no immediate solutions presented themselves.

"I'll take him to the nursery. We set up a crib while you were being debriefed," Panther said, extending her arms. With relief, Kakashi handed over Naruto and scurried off to the bathroom.

Finally alone behind a closed door, Kakashi felt free to take down some of his walls. He stripped out of his clothes and mask, started the bath, and pulled the wooden stool over to the tap near the bucket. Kakashi meticulously scrubbed every centimeter of himself, and it took multiple passes with his strongest soap before all of the burnt-on gore came off of his right hand. Feeling thoroughly scoured, he dumped the remains of the bucket over his head and slicked his hair back before standing up. He caught a glance of himself in the full-length mirror and stopped short.

Kakashi had dark circles under his puffy eyes and faint whisker-lines on his cheeks. He bared his sharp teeth in a silent snarl, and in that moment, he looked more fox than dog. His heart started hammering in his chest as his gaze trailed down his body, assessing. The spiral seal on his stomach hadn't washed off. He rubbed at it furiously, but that only made the skin redden. Kakashi was coming dangerously close to hyperventilating, so he sat himself on the floor and tucked his head between his knees.

Eventually, once his breathing slowed enough to not risk drowning in the large, old-fashioned bath, he slipped into the hot water, sighing as his muscles relaxed one-by-one.

As soon as the water began to cool, Kakashi heaved himself out and drained the tub, pulling his mask back on and wrapping a towel around his waist. He tried to chakra-sense where the ANBU were in his house, but they were clamped too tight and his new roommate made it difficult to see anything past himself. There was a brief moment of existential terror - Kakashi had built his fighting style around being a knife flash in the dark, unseen except at the time of strike.

Kakashi had two serious options. He could work within his limitations and change his style to be that of a tank, because if he could access the Nine-tails' chakra, he wouldn't be fainting of chakra exhaustion anymore. Or, he could throw himself into meditation and genin-level training until he regained enough control to dissolve into the shadows again. The Kyuubi's massive chakra had stolen his breath from his throat as it rampaged, while the darkness caressed him like an old blanket.

Easy choice, really.

Kakashi peeked his head out of the door to see Tanuki and Crescent Moon asleep on their bedrolls, with their masks still on. Tanuki was curled into the recovery position, and Crescent Moon snored on his back. He rolled his eye and crept into his bedroom where he donned his pajamas - a tight black singlet and loose-fitting sweatpants with a shuriken pattern on them.

Shinobi were supposed to be good at falling asleep on the trail, but that was a skill that had evaded Kakashi. Usually, he tired himself out running kata until he was fatigued enough to pass out, but he was already so bushed that he fell asleep seconds after his head hit the pillow.

* * *

Kakashi was falling in the pitch black and it felt like he would be forever, until he landed on some cosmic floor and it knocked the breath out of him. Immediately, his nose caught the stench of death and decay and he heard the deep breathing of an immense creature. Kakashi dared to look up.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune was trapped in a huge cage of indeterminate material. It yawned and stretched like a dog, revealing teeth the size of half Kakashi's body. He swallowed, and the Fox turned its huge yellow eyes on him.

"So you've finally inclined to join me, brat. Hope you brought tea."

Kakashi didn't speak or move, he seemed completely frozen in place. The Fox laughed, a grating, terrible sound, and lay down, one front paw crossed over the other.

"Of all the human trash to be my next host, I never would've suspected an Uchiha." The Fox said that name with a deeply ingrained hatred. "That's new."

"Who, me? I'm not- I'm Hatake," Kakashi countered inanely.

"That damned eye of yours could've fooled me. If you're not Uchiha- but, ah, Kushina-chan told me about you, didn't she? 'Friend-killer Kakashi', of the Sharingan eye."

It was like all of the anger from earlier had been consumed and replaced with fear. Kakashi spoke around the lump in his throat. "Yes, sir."

The Fox cackled again. "'Sir', that's a new one. Brat, I'm not worthy of being called 'sir'. Did you have any actual questions for me to avoid answering, or am I gonna do all the talkin' here?"

Kakashi didn't have a script, but he was used to thinking on his feet. "Do you know who was trying to unseal you, and why?"

"Eh, don't know, don't care. Well, I do know, but I still don't care. Lust for power is the greatest driver of action."

"Orochimaru?" was Kakashi's next thought.

"Brat, I don't know that high up the ladder. I only know the Uchiha who sprung me."

"Oh, well, he's dead. Are you sure you don't know why Obito was trying to release you?" Kakashi's right hand flexed instinctively.

"Good riddance. I don't know for sure, but I can guess. All humans are the same - Konoha wants me imprisoned for the same reason any of the other Hidden Villages would."

"But it's beneficial to-"

"Have me on your side? Brat, I know. You all think it's okay to wield me on your enemy, but when they hit back just as hard, it's a crime against humanity. Violence is all the same to me. I'll long outlive any of your silly countries, so my time with you is just a drop in the bucket. Shame about Kushina-chan, though...she knew how to treat a Tailed Beast."

Kakashi was still processing philosophy while the Fox rambled on. "What do you mean?"

"She took me out for rampages in the Forest of Death and took missions that would guarantee wholesale slaughter, the usual."

"Fuck, they've got me on medical leave for the foreseeable future." Kakashi finally felt loose enough to lie down, looking up at empty blackness.

"Oh, do they? I slept through that part. Eating souls really takes it out of me, I think it's the carbs."

"Souls don't contain carbs," Kakashi quipped, relying on what was truthful instead of throwing his lot in with the rest of that inane sentence.

"I know, asshole, I'm joking. You should try it sometime."

Kakashi tried to glare at the Fox. He looked about as high as the beast's shoulder before he chickened out. "Why don't you use my name?"

"Nothing personal, brat. Though, you are a weedy little scarecrow." Suddenly, the Fox stood up and snapped at the bars of the cage, making Kakashi skitter away. The Fox laughed, then sneered. "Could use you as a toothpick. But I won't, because if I play nice your keepers will let you take me out for walkies."

Kakashi felt his lip curl behind his mask, baring his teeth in an empty threat display. He couldn't fight the Kyuubi, and there was no reason to, anyways.

"Though, I gotta say," the Fox mused, "Your dead sensei sure did a bang-up job on this place. I have space to move around and everything. The shinobi who sealed me into Kushina-chan, well, the inner workings of his mind were no surprise."

Flabbergasted, Kakashi just stared. All of his thoughts coalesced around a single word. What?

Apparently, he had said that aloud, for the Fox actually answered him. "You should've seen this shit. I was all bound up on some pedestal with chains. He should've just gone with shibari rope and save everyone else the trouble. Everyone else being me, that is."

"What?" Kakashi said again, because the situation warranted it. "Did you...not want to demolish Konohagakure?"

"Oh, I do. I just want to do it my way," the beast practically purred, sending a chill up Kakashi's spine. "Your buddy Obito just wanted the important buildings gone, but where's the fun in that? If he really wanted some sort of revolution, he should've brought a scalpel, instead of stealing the Hokage's hammer. Completely different skill set, you know? Not that I don't relish in the destruction of nations through any means, espionage just isn't my thing." The Fox lazily set its gaze on Kakashi, then said, "Hey, you should rebel. You've got the power now- why not go rogue?"

"I don't understand the question," Kakashi said stiffly.

"Hm. Suit yourself, brat." The Fox looked up at the black expanse. "I think someone's calling you. Best wake up, it might be something serious, right?"

Before Kakashi could respond, he was yanked back up through the darkness by an unseen force and he came to, panting. Naruto was crying in the room down the hall, and he could hear the ANBU arguing in hushed voices. Kakashi swung his legs out of bed, put on his house slippers, and went to see what was the matter.

He knocked on the door to the nursery, and it opened a crack in response, the voices quieting. When Kakashi slid inside, the two rookie ANBU had put their masks back on.

"Good afternoon, Hatake," Tanuki said, still trying to comfort the baby in his arms. "We were going to let you sleep. I bet you're exhausted."

Kakashi noted the way the light fell from underneath the drawn curtains and realized it was, in fact, the afternoon. With wild bedhead and dark circles under his eyes, Kakashi replied, "I'm fine. Hand him to me."

Naruto still cried when he was placed in Kakashi's arms. "He wasn't crying for long," Crescent Moon admitted. "Shiranui thinks he needs to be fed."

That name was familiar - Kakashi had run a few squad missions with Shiranui Genma as a tokubetsu-jounin under his leadership. There had been a lot of ankle-biting jokes. Kakashi did not like this man, but he was in ANBU and Kakashi was a jinchuuriki. Life could be very, very cruel. Kakashi sighed and retreated to the kitchen to get food for Naruto, rummaging around in the cabinets one-handed before he realized he didn't know what babies ate. Milk, right? Thankfully, there were a few prepared bottles of formula in the fridge. He snatched one and stuck it in the baby's open maw.

Kakashi let out a controlled breath as Naruto drank the formula. When the bottle was drained, all seemed well for about two seconds before Naruto's face scrunched. He wriggled in Kakashi's arms making fitful noises.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked the newborn. Of course, Naruto didn't respond, just kicked his legs harder. Kakashi did the only thing he could think of, and started gently bouncing the infant on his hip, which caused Naruto to burp and spit up some of the formula. The cloyingly sweet-smelling liquid dripped down Naruto's chin and stained his onesie and Kakashi's shirt. Then, Naruto fell back asleep.

Kakashi's eye twitched. He looked up, appealing to some higher power before sighing and wiping up the mess with a cloth towel. He carried Naruto back to the nursery and lay him down in the crib, the only baby-oriented thing in the room. Only when the door clicked shut did Kakashi notice that Panther had followed him in, and she removed her mask, clipping it to her belt.

Her face wasn't average, but it didn't meet Kakashi's knowledge of female beauty standards, either. She had sharp cheekbones, a narrow nose, and a strong jawline.

And her lips were slightly downturned. "Hatake, change your shirt. Naruto's onesie can stay for the time being, since it's such a hassle getting him to fall asleep. Which of you idiots wants cooking detail?"

Genma shrugged. "I'll do it, Chiriko-taichou. Namiashi cooked last time, and I'm pretty sure my taste buds haven't stopped revolting yet."

Those were two family names Kakashi hadn't heard. Maybe he could sneak into the administrative building and look up everyone's files later...but no, he couldn't. Not only would he be detected within a hundred meters, anything he did would be brought under heavy scrutiny. Kakashi frowned. He was paying for everyone else's mistakes. Konoha was still standing, and he would always be grateful for that, but he personally took the fall for something that was entirely preventable. If this had been an accident, Kushina should have gotten an abortion, and if this hadn't been an accident, he was seriously questioning his sensei's judgement.

A stray thought crossed his mind before he could suppress it. It would be so easy...

Kakashi recoiled at the dark path his thoughts had taken. He wouldn't kill Naruto. He wouldn't.

 _But you could..._ came a growl from deep in Kakashi's center.

 _I don't want to hear it from you_ , Kakashi growled right back.

Kakashi realized that he'd entirely missed the last part of the conversation. Genma had left the room, Namiashi was watching him, and Chiriko-taichou was waving her hand in front of his face.

"Hello-o, earth to genius? I asked you a question."

"Can you repeat it?"

"Oh, for the love of Shodai's sainted balls. Have you managed to make contact with the Kyuubi yet?"

"Yes," was all Kakashi saw fit to answer.

Chiriko-taichou muttered something under her breath about pulling teeth, then said, "Well? Did it tell you who plotted to interfere with Kushina-sama?"

"No," Kakashi drawled, "He didn't know or care, or so he told me. I doubt his information be of much use to Intel."

"You'd better hope you come up with something quick. There are rumors among the higher ups that the Uchiha - the entire clan - is responsible for last night's catastrophe. Danzō believes that the correct response is immediate and brutal retaliation."

"Why should I care? That family has never given me the time of day, and if they were at fault, there should be repercussions."

"You should care," Namiashi stated plainly, "Because their family contributes a great many talented shinobi to our ranks. I'm of the opinion that Obito was acting alone. It's a good thing you killed him before he could do anything drastic, but you left almost nothing for Intel. That puts the Uchiha in a tight spot."

Kakashi seethed. It wasn't Obito's _fault_ that the Kyuubi was released - he was just an innocent kid who died in a rockslide two years ago. His anger felt nearly palpable and his fists clenched at his sides. "That wasn't Obito. That was a monster," Kakashi bit out. The air heated up around him, but he was on a roll, now. He leveled a finger at Namiashi. "I did what I had to do. There were no other options that wouldn't have ended with my guts blown across the landscape and Konoha in far worse condition."

Both Namiashi and Chiriko-taichou had dropped into ready stances, strategically blocking the crib from Kakashi.

"Get a hold of yourself, Hatake," Namiashi said in a voice so gentle it made Kakashi want to take a chunk out of him.

Kakashi didn't want to calm down, he wanted to feel his rage and enact it. It was like thousands of years of wrongdoings had compounded into one verbal misstep and flayed him to the bone.

A sudden and newly familiar chuckle sent ice through his veins. He dropped his arm and stepped back, breath coming fast and insufficient. An orange aura he hadn't noticed before slowly dispersed from his skin.

So that was the Kyuubi's influence. Kakashi decided he disliked it.

"I don't think you should handle the baby anymore," Chiriko-taichou said slowly, not straightening from her stance. "It's too dangerous."

"No," Kakashi growled, and for a moment the anger boiled back up again, but he recognized it for what it was. He took another step back, pressing himself up against the closed door. "No. I've been a jinchuuriki for less than a day. It clearly takes some getting used to, but Minato-sensei's final imperative was that I care for his son. I refuse to go back on my word. Plus, I'm the only one who can get him to fall asleep."

"Fine," she said as she put away her kodachi and straightened up. "But you're on thin fucking ice."

"Noted," Kakashi replied drily.

At that moment, the door swung open, and Genma tapped two fingers to his shoulder in the ANBU salute. "Dinner's re- did I just interrupt something?"


	3. Main Sequence

Genma had made shakshouka, which Kakashi regarded with suspicion.

"How do I know you didn't poison it?"

"You saw me serve everyone from the same skillet. It's just tomatoes, onions, cumin, poached eggs, and scallions." Genma's voice sounded like he had an eyebrow raised.

Kakashi warily took a small bite, applying his usual sleight of hand with his mask, and he forced himself to chew slowly. It was tangy, and Kakashi realized it had been more than twenty-four hours since he'd eaten. He shoveled more into his mouth.

"It's acceptable," Kakashi determined.

Genma hummed smugly. "If I had poisoned it, you wouldn't know until you dropped dead later."

"Maybe. My nose is on par with an Inuzuka's."

The rest of dinner was silent and awkward. No one made eye contact with each other, or saw each other's faces.

* * *

To Kakashi's surprise, the four of them quickly fell into a routine. Chiriko-taichou took the night watch, while Genma and Namiashi handled the day, with half an hour of overlap on each end. Kakashi was more or less free to do what he wanted, though it still felt like he was under house arrest, and he was often called in to the nursery to handle Naruto when the others couldn't calm him down. Despite the hope that Naruto simply liked Kakashi better than the others, it was probably the familiarity of the Nine-tails' chakra that assuaged the infant.

The Hatake estate was nowhere near the size of the other clan grounds, but it was still large enough to allow space for sparring. Kakashi would say that he convinced his keepers to allow him to spar them, Genma would say he begged. Out of a grudging courtesy, Kakashi did not use his Sharingan. It was only ever at least two-on-one, and as a cool-down, Kakashi would practice fine chakra control. He could produce five Kage Bunshin at a time if he wasn't trying to hold back, and it felt like trying to thread a Fox through the eye of a needle.

One day, after a spar destroyed three bushes and knocked a branch off of the largest tree in the yard, a familiar voice called out to Kakashi while he was meditating.

"Eternal Rival!" Gai's voice boomed. The green-clad ninja leaned over Kakashi's fence. "It has been far too long since we shed brotherly sweat and tears in a great challenge!"

Kakashi slid his eye open with great effort. "Be quiet, Gai. Naruto-kun is sleeping."

"Ah, I see," Gai whispered, climbing over the fence to sit seiza across from Kakashi at the other end of the koi pond. "My apologies, comrade. It's just...people are talking. Nobody has seen you in a month, and after the loss of Yondaime-sama, you can understand that they would be worried about you."

"I'm fine!" Kakashi whispered back, offended. "I'm only recovering from the chakra injuries I incurred."

"A month is a long time to be alone, Rival," Gai murmured.

Kakashi knew the questions that Gai couldn't ask, and the answers that he couldn't give. "I'm not alone," he finally said. Gai was smart, he would understand the double entendre.

Gai nodded, then his face lit up. "Be sure to call on me when you're feeling well enough to test your reserve!" He leapt up to his feet and was gone in a flash of green. Kakashi sighed.

* * *

Later that night, Kakashi awoke to the sound of Naruto's crying. He shuffled to the nursery and found that Chiriko-taichou was already handling it, so he figured he might as well take a trip to the bathroom while he was up.

When he opened the door, the light was already on, and it took him a few blinks to process what he was seeing. Genma and Namiashi were bathing together, which wasn't strange in and of itself, as the bathtub was large enough and it was a shinobi's instinct not to waste resources. What was strange was the blush high on Genma's cheeks, and that Namiashi was sinking lower and lower into the water, as if it could hide him from Kakashi's bleary stare.

"What," Kakashi said intelligently.

"Oh, you know," Genma said both ominously and nonchalantly. "Raidou, if you drown, I'm not rescuing you."

Raidou - Kakashi finally had a personal name and half a face - mumbled something that sounded like, "I wish I could fucking drown."

Kakashi blinked again. "So are you both, like...gay?"

Genma's eyebrows crept up his forehead, and his lips quirked. "Technically, we're both, like, bisexual."

"You're making it worse," Raidou gritted out, then ducked down to just under his nose, glaring at a spot on the opposite wall.

"I think," Kakashi said, "That I'm going to go find a bush outside."

"Sounds good. Hope everything comes out okay." Genma gave Kakashi a bastardized two-fingered salute.

Kakashi heard Raidou say, "Whatever I did, I am so fucking sorry," as he left the bathroom and closed the door. He stood in the hallway for a few minutes and tried to contemplate this development in silence, but the Kyuubi just couldn't keep his nose out of it.

 _Looks like your keepers are keeping each other,_ he mused. _Buttering the roll on both sides, spelunking in the-_

 _Shut up!_ Kakashi thought back at him. _I don't want to think about my guards having sex in my bathroom!_

 _And yet you're thinking about it anyway. Don't be too hard on 'em, brat, they've been stuck here the same amount of time as you._ Kakashi could sense the smirk in the Kyuubi's thoughts as he tramped out to the garden to find a suitable bush to water. He let his silence speak for itself.

The remainder of Kakashi's dreams that night were a mishmash of previous spars with Gai. Fights he knew he had won in the past - _duck here twist there grab that_ \- ended with Gai grinning triumphantly over him, again and again.

Kakashi woke with a start. He felt feverish and out of sorts, heart rate ticking too fast to be normal. Normally, he would be upset to lose a fight, but the dreams only left him contented, which was strange and uncomfortable. He stalked to the bathroom, splashed cold water on himself, and resolved to invite Gai over once the sun had risen, just to make sure he still had his edge.

* * *

This time, the smile on Gai's face seemed much more genuine and Kakashi's heart squeezed in a way that wasn't conducive to proper circulatory system operation. He was already waiting outside with Naruto cradled in his arms, as the baby had fallen asleep there after being fed.

"The springtime of our youth is blooming bright today, isn't it, Rival?" Gai said as he approached Kakashi on the porch steps.

Kakashi looked around at the fall foliage and slid a look at Gai. "Certainly."

Gai seemed to finally notice the infant in Kakashi's lap. "I thought we would be sparring, today, but if you have another challenge in mind, I'm up for it!"

"No," Kakashi said firmly, and with the way Gai's face fell, he winced. "I mean, Naruto-kun will not be participating in any of our challenges. I'll hand him off after Shiranui and Namiashi wake up."

Which made Kakashi wonder how much sleep the two ANBU rookies had gotten. It wasn't really his problem, anyways, because ninja were well-versed in functioning on only a few hours of sleep. It would be karmic intervention (not that he believed in things like karma, because he was still alive and Minato was dead) if both of them were haggard and slow. Kakashi was going to enjoy raking them across the training field he'd made of the gardens, and he felt his eye curve.

A light and sweet chakra signature pulsed over Kakashi's shoulder, Genma alerting him of his presence, and Kakashi noted with pleasant vindication that the meditation was starting to pay off. He could feel the world around him now, though it was still as if he was firmly packed in cotton balls, nowhere near his previous sensing capabilities.

"Shiranui," Kakashi greeted him, voice betraying no emotion.

"Good morning, Hatake." Genma sounded well-rested and the faintest bit smug. "I started a pot of tea for you and your friend. Taichou told us he would be coming at turnover."

Kakashi didn't feel the need to thank the man. "Here, can you take Naruto-kun? I want to spar with Gai."

Genma cradled the infant in his arms. "Sure, it's what I'm here for, after all. Sanctioned murderer and babysitter extraordinaire." Not for the first time, Kakashi felt a little queasy about someone other than him holding Naruto, but the only thing Genma would threaten the baby with was parenting ineptness. Between the four of them, they might even successfully raise the kid.

Kakashi pushed up off the front steps and walked to the center of the lawn, which had leaves strewn all about. He turned to face Gai, a brisk wind tousling his hair. Kakashi was all rumpled edges and slender lines, not even close to filling out the smallest size of jounin blues Konoha offered. He'd left his flak vest inside with his kunai holsters, wanting a purely physical fight.

The way the Kyuubi's chakra clung dense under his skin made him wonder if he could finally throw a punch as hard as Gai could, though he knew he wasn't quite up to Raidou's level, yet. Getting hit by that man was like running headfirst into the Wall.

Gai shucked his vest, holsters, and weights, contrasting Kakashi's vague borders with his own definition, thrown into relief by his green jumpsuit. "Don't try to go easy on me," he said cheerfully as he limbered up.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Kakashi replied, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders. He lifted his hitai-ate, throwing the world into splashes of black and blue, paths of intent opening up. This was the only way he could even try to block Gai, who moved as if he weighed nothing at all.

A heartbeat later, Gai's first kick whiffed over Kakashi's head. Kakashi swept his leg out to disrupt Gai's landing, but the other teen was already gone. Gai rushed in for a punch that Kakashi barely deflected in time.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, tracking Gai's every move, but still on the defensive. He dodged and blocked and evaded, yet he still found no openings, as Gai's defense was rock solid. There was some baser emotion roiling in his gut and he growled instinctively. Now that Kakashi had all this power at his disposal, he should be wiping the floor with everyone. He threaded some chakra into his fists and met Gai's next attack head-on, meeting fist-to-fist instead of swaying out of the way like bamboo.

Gai, thrown by the style change, caught Kakashi's other fist in a grazing blow to the side. He gritted his teeth and feinted away. Kakashi's frown deepened, and something in him egged on the negative emotions, even as he was pressed towards the edge of the field.

 _Go ahead, be angry. You deserve to win this fight._

Unbidden chakra flowed to the rest of Kakashi's body and he caught a glimpse of it in the periphery of the Sharingan, like a black aura surrounding him. It gave Kakashi the extra burst of speed he needed to tackle Gai to the ground and wrestle him into an armbar.

Gai laughed heartily. "Well fought as ever, rival! I am grateful that your Eternal Youth pushes me to my limits!"

Kakashi didn't quite hear him. His heartbeat pounded in his ears and a feral part of him wanted to grasp tighter, tear in with teeth and claws and _make_ _bleed_ -

The suddenness of it startled Kakashi out of his trance. He dropped his hold on Gai and rolled away, panting heavily. Acrid chakra still bubbled in his pathways and he couldn't get hold of his breathing. He'd been so close to really hurting Gai, to killing him, and even with the Kyuubi's influence he had never come that close to snapping during a spar.

"Kakashi?" Gai asked warily, standing a safe five paces back.

"Get away," Kakashi gasped out, curling in on himself. "Can't...Don't wanna hurt you."

Gai sat down crosslegged where he was. "I've taken worse in a spar, you know that."

Kakashi shuddered. "Yes, I know. I'm fine, just leave me alone."

"I'm sorry, Kakashi."

And there it was again, Gai saying his name. Kakashi buried his face in his folded arms. He didn't deserve Gai's kindness after what he almost did, after what he had so desperately wanted to do in the heat of battle. His breath choked out on a sob.

Chiriko-taichou appeared in the doorway. "You manage to hit the brat?"

"No, ma'am." Gai got up and stood at attention.

She muttered something to herself that Kakashi didn't catch and made her way over to him. "Yo, kiddo. You should drink something, it'll calm the nerves. If you don't need me for anything, I'm going to bed." At that, she vanished back into the house.

Kakashi made an attempt to control his breathing and pushed up to a sitting position. The concern in Gai's eyes was too earnest. He looked away.

"I could get you-" Gai started.

"No, I'll pour my own tea. Shiranui already made a pot." Kakashi got up, swatted some of the dirt and grass off of himself, and stalked back inside. Gai followed. Kakashi could tell he was concerned, but the last thing he wanted to do was talk about it, so he silently poured two cups of tea and went to sit at the kotatsu.

"My belated congratulations to Shiranui on his feats of Strength and Passion," Gai said nonchalantly when he joined Kakashi. "I wasn't aware he had made ANBU."

Kakashi nearly snorted out his tea. "You'd be the only one. Why bother classifying anything if your agents are tattooed for all the world to see? He was flaunting it back in April."

Gai frowned. "He doesn't seem like the kind of shinobi to be prideful."

"Okay, so maybe he wasn't flaunting it, but he wore a tank top and shorts to go jogging in every day that week, despite the cold snap."

"He could have been conditioning," Gai pointed out carefully. "The best shinobi keep their Fountain of Youth running smoothly no matter the weather, and I would expect no less of Konoha's elite forces!"

"He," Genma said from just behind Kakashi's shoulder, "Can hear you. Nice to see you again, Gai. Pay no mind to Hatake - he's just jealous."

Kakashi rolled his eye so hard it hurt. "Where's Naruto-kun? I thought I told you to take care of him."

"Namiashi's watching him sleep in the nursery." Genma leaned over and snatched two pears from the fruit basket on the table. "Do you really think I'd abandon him to incapable hands?"

"No," Kakashi said sourly, glancing at his watch. "You were praising just how capable they were not five hours ago."

Genma laughed softly and tightened his ponytail, drawing Kakashi's attention to purpling marks on his neck. "My bad. Next time, I'll use a silencing jutsu."

"Wha- Next time?" Kakashi's voice cracked.

"Call if you need us," Genma said. He saluted Kakashi, then translocated down the hall.

After a few seconds, Gai spoke up. "Well, surely you have some insights into what that Youthful display was all about, Kakashi."

Kakashi groaned and dropped his head onto the table, then picked himself back up to sip his tea through his mask, now only lukewarm. "I caught Shiranui and Namiashi having sex last night and now I need to give myself an infinite tsukuyomi to forget I ever saw anything."

Gai's huge eyebrows crept up his forehead. "I was under the impression that Shiranui had a particular charm with the ladies."

"That may still be true. He's definitely interested in men, though."

Gai was silent for a moment. It was the most contemplative Kakashi had ever seen him and Kakashi wondered what he could be thinking about before a grin split Gai's face.

"Ah, the Energy of Young Love! How is the newest Bud planted in the Springtime of your home faring?"

The subject change nearly gave Kakashi whiplash. "Naruto-kun? He's doing okay, I think. He...sure is a baby, alright. All he does is eat, sleep, and shit."

"Rival!" Gai admonished. "Language! What if Naruto-kun heard you?"

Kakashi's response withered in his throat when he saw Raidou suddenly materialize at the front door. "Namiashi? What's going on?"

"We've got visitors," Raidou answered in his deep baritone, voice low enough Kakashi barely heard it. "ANBU."

Gai caught Kakashi's eye, but there was a single, sharp knock at the wood paneling adjacent to the door. Kakashi pushed himself up from the kotatsu, feeling a chill slide up his spine, and went to stand behind Raidou as the other man opened the door.

"Crescent Moon," the woman in the koi mask said. Her partner, another woman in an otter mask, stood there looking imposing. "Sandaime-sama requested us to escort Hatake-san to this morning's council meeting."

That wasn't the worst thing in the world. Kakashi had been to council meetings before with Minato, in the brief time his teacher had been Hokage. He could only wonder what this one was about.

Kakashi turned back towards Gai, lazily giving him his bastardized two-fingered salute. "See you around."

"Of course, Eternal Rival! I look forward to planning our next challenge!"

A smile threatened at the corners of Kakashi's masked lips and he turned before sentimentality could make him falter, hooking elbows with the two women. They translocated to one of the balconies of Hokage Palace and let Kakashi in through the heavy wooden door. It had been just over a month since he was last here, eating dinner with Minato and Kushina. So much had changed since then, and the Palace's decor no longer held any familiarity for Kakashi.

He pulled his mind away from those thoughts and slouched off towards the conference room with Koi at point and Otter on his six. Koi opened the door and every head in the room swiveled to look at Kakashi. Kakashi stared back. It was like a hawk sighting a mouse, though Kakashi was unsure who was the predator and who was the prey in this scenario. He took the only empty seat at the table and Koi and Otter took up their posts in the back corners of the room.

"I'm glad you could join us this morning, Hatake. I trust that your recovery is progressing well. Now," Hiruzen paused, giving Kakashi a tired yet unfathomable look. "Tell us what happened on the night of October tenth."


	4. Red Supergiant

Kakashi looked at Hiruzen levelly in a move that was definitely insubordination. "With all due respect, Hokage-sama, Intel has all of my reports. What I tell you now will be no different."

"As it should be. However, I believe that a month's distance from the event might have given you new insight. Just as well, because few on this council have the clearance to see those documents, and I wouldn't want anyone making any rash decisions."

"You're asking me to divulge S-rank Intel over a petty dispute?" Kakashi's voice cracked. He _hated_ being a teenager.

"Far from it. I'm asking you to divulge S-rank Intel to avoid unnecessary deaths. As I'm sure Panther informed you, some in this group are quick to assign blame, and I think you can shed some light on the situation, since you were the one who was found at the scene."

"Perhaps," an Uchiha clan elder spoke up, ignoring Fugaku's quelling stare, "Hatake-san was the one who released the Kyuubi. He does have a stolen Sharingan which he could use to control it, after all."

Kakashi couldn't help the feral snarl that escaped his lips. Everyone in the room pressed against the backs of their chairs as if trying to escape, but Kakashi didn't care. "First of all, how dare you question my loyalty to Konohagakure. Without the sacrifices I have made - which if you would just be patient, I will get to - the Village wouldn't even be standing today. Secondly, I have an alibi. I snuck out of the jounin shelter _after_ the Kyuubi was already wreaking havoc. And finally," Kakashi seethed, meeting the Uchiha's black eyes with his own gray one, "This eye was a gift from a friend. If you knew me half as well as the boots you licked to get here, you wouldn't have said something so ludicrous."

"I see why we don't allow teenagers to sit in on these meetings," the elder groused. Kakashi wanted to tear his throat out, but he settled back in his chair at the sharp look from Hiruzen and attempted to control his baser emotions. The best he could accomplish was something like papier-mâché, and the Kyuubi's chakra, growing familiar but still entirely unwelcome, thrummed underneath his skin.

 _That's one way to make sure I'm paying attention_ , the Kyuubi yawned. _I'm hungry, which means you are too, brat. You really should've eaten breakfast._

 _Oh, now you want to talk._ Kakashi thought back at him, more than a little peeved. _I didn't have the time to eat this morning._

 _Let me rephrase - you should eat breakfast every day._

 _Are you going to help me retell this, or are you just going to nag?_

Silence.

 _That's what I thought._

Kakashi heaved a put-upon sigh and looked back around at the council members. "Brace yourselves."

He pushed up his hitai-ate and formed a quick sequence of hand seals, plunging the room into an area-effect genjutsu. The parts of the night that he hadn't captured with his Sharingan were blurry and unfocused, running through the trees with a sense of fear so thick it was like running through fog, the cave, with Kushina already dead, then _clarity_.

The perfect recreation of Minato's fight with Obito took center stage, the Kyuubi's roars echoing in the background. A moment of foresight, a rush of ground under Kakashi's feet, then his fist through his friend's chest for the second time. Anger, sadness, confusion, betrayal - all forced on Kakashi's captive audience as much as it had been forced onto him.

It was worse for knowing it was coming and still being unable to prevent the stagnant breath in his throat, but the illusion played on without him. Kakashi hid Minato's fingers from view with a simple twist of his hand, making it seem like Kakashi simply had not caught the jutsu that sealed the Nine-tails inside of him. Kakashi cut the genjutsu there, sparing himself the indignity of people knowing that he sat still for nearly thirty minutes, naked with a soiled infant and arms that grasped just a hair too tightly.

The council members without a doujutsu blinked at the return of reality. Everyone in the room except for Hiruzen looked at Kakashi with a mix of fear and pity. One, a Hyuuga woman in jounin blues, inclined her head towards Kakashi and said, "Thank you for your service."

Kakashi blinked at her. He had never been thanked for the sacrifices he made before. It was part of being a ninja - you either do your job, or you die. He pulled his hitai-ate back down and said, "Don't mention it," to the table.

Hiruzen cleared his throat. "You can enlist for Wall Duty after this meeting is over, but no missions. Don't tell anyone outside of this room that you're hosting the Kyuubi. Yamanaka, is that sufficient to clear the Uchiha of any wrongdoing? Uchiha Obito hadn't had contact with the village in two years, as he was thought to be dead."

Yamanaka Inoichi, head of Intel, took his time with his answer. "After the autopsy, we determined that Shodai-sama's cells were used to rebuild the damaged half of Obito's body. There are few shinobi with the access to that material as well as the skill to use it. Senju Tsunade-sama has been away without leave for fourteen years, while Uchiha Madara has been presumed dead for forty-three."

"How dare you try to pin this on the Uchiha," the elder bristled. "Of course Madara is dead! I wouldn't put it past your 'Legendary Sannin' to try demolishing Konohagakure-"

"Enough," Hiruzen interrupted. "I will not lose dozens of talented members of our military forces over petty disagreements. There will be a trial, if it comes to that, but right now, everything is just speculation. Thank you all for your time, and this meeting will open to the masses in ten minutes for discussion of public works projects."

Kakashi stood up, wanting to be the first out the door so he could sign up for Wall Duty and finally get out of the house, but he saw Danzou pull Hiruzen off to the side, and suddenly he was much more interested in if he could eavesdrop. He slowed his breathing until it was barely audible, sheathed himself in a chameleon genjutsu, and threaded as much chakra as he dared to his ears, keeping the rest under wraps.

"-heard the Uchiha were planning a coup, Hokage-sama. We should act swiftly."

"You also heard what I said during the meeting, Danzou. I will not act on suspicion alone. Even if Madara was involved, that's no sure sign the rest of his family was."

"What if I could produce evidence?"

"Moreso than the Intel division? Leave the investigation to them."

Danzou paused. "ROOT is more than capable."

"Certainly, because we want the Uchiha to think we're suspicious of them. The most powerful clan in Konohagakure, that can only go over well. I'm not sacrificing military clout over your old grudge. Fear can be a powerful tool, but it is not what we need here."

"Fear is the only way to maintain control."

Hiruzen laughed darkly. "It's an easy way to maintain control. Have you ever wondered, Danzou, why Torture and Interrogation-" He stopped, walking towards the door, and Kakashi hastily translocated to the other end of the hall.

Kakashi only withdrew the genjutsu cloak when he was outside of Hokage Palace, startling a few civilians congregating in the courtyard, but he kept his chakra clamped tight. A few minutes later, he walked through the doors of the Missions Office, right hand raised in lazy greeting.

"'Lo, Anaji-san."

The chuunin at the desk looked up from his mountain of paperwork, taking in Kakashi. "Well, well. Look who's finally not grounded anymore. A B-rank, Hatake? It'll be a piece of cake - wouldn't want to strain you too hard after being out of commission for a month."

"Actually, I've come to sign up for Wall Duty."

Shenzou raised his eyebrows at Kakashi, then pushed his wheelchair back from the desk so he could laugh. It wasn't a pretty sound, he gasped and wheezed with the memory of poisoned lungs. "That's the funniest joke I've heard all day, Hatake. Didn't think you had it in you. Now, I think I've got just the thing - there's a pretty civilian girl who's paying for a jounin escort to Shiratsukawa-"

"No. I meant what I said."

Shenzou looked up from rifling through his filing cabinets. "That's not like you, Hatake. Sure you didn't hit your head when you snuck out of the shelter, too?"

Kakashi made a big show of rolling his eye. "Hokage's orders. Today is the first day I've been outside of the clan grounds."

"Ouch. Well, take whatever shift you like." Shenzou wheeled himself back to his desk and buried himself back in his paperwork.

Kakashi found the week's Wall Duty signup sheets pinned to the bulletin board. He signed up for every night shift, not for any particular reason having to do with horny ANBU guards.

As Kakashi opened the door, he turned back towards Shenzou. "You have a daughter, right?"

"Yes," Shenzou said. "Etsu-chan is the light of my life. She turns two this December."

"When did it start to feel worthwhile to you?"

"Oh, fuck, must've been when she was about seven months old, and she called me 'Toutou'. I nearly cried...Why do you ask?" Shenzou narrowed his eyes at Kakashi. "You're not planning on having kids at this age, are you?"

"I'm not planning on it," Kakashi replied cryptically, then shoved his hands in his pockets and took to the rooftops.

While Kakashi wove his way back to the Hatake estate, in no hurry, he pondered the exchange he had eavesdropped on. It seemed like regardless of the Uchiha clan's potential innocence, Danzou was determined to extinguish them. Kakashi was by no means fond of the family and the feeling was mutual, but he sure as hell didn't want them dead.

Though, it was hard to keep thinking that when he ran into another member striding purposefully towards his home. Kakashi shadowed her, shielding his chakra. To his chagrin, she opened the fence gate as if it was her birthright. That was when Kakashi dropped the veil and allowed the clashing mix of his chakra and the Kyuubi's surge through his veins.

The woman turned around with a disdainful look. "I had hoped your meeting would take longer."

"Why are you here?" Kakashi made it an accusation.

"I'm Uchiha Mikoto, and your idiotic ANBU guards requested childcare assistance. They could've asked any other mother in the village, but no, because I babysat Namiashi he had to come find me. It's a good thing I'm still on maternal leave."

Kakashi could hear the muffled sound of Naruto's wails and pushed past Mikoto towards the house. "Goddamnit, they couldn't even handle me being gone for an hour! I'll never be able to take a mission again."

"I was here earlier today," Mikoto said from behind him. "Naruto-kun is colicky, so I had to run out and get the herbal remedy I used when Sasuke-kun wouldn't stop crying."

She handed it to Kakashi, who couldn't bring up the decency to thank her. He nodded and let them both inside. They walked down the long hall in sock feet and Kakashi knocked twice on the door to the nursery. It opened just barely enough to let Kakashi and Mikoto in and then shut behind them. Naruto's wailing was even more unbearable here, and Kakashi's ears ached.

"Here, let me hold him." Kakashi reached out, and Raidou placed a squirming bundle of one-month-old in his arms. He handed the bottle of murky green liquid to Mikoto, who measured out a single dose into the paired spoon and shoved it into Naruto's open mouth. The baby swallowed the concoction, but still cried, even when Kakashi tried to rock him.

"I thought you said this would work," Kakashi accused her.

"Give it time," she replied with the patience of a saint. "Nobody can digest anything right away."

It took about ten minutes for Naruto to stop crying and, having tired himself out, he fell asleep in Kakashi's arms. They moved out to the living room and sat on the couch facing the TV, since Kakashi didn't want to relinquish Naruto just yet. He glared at Genma and Raidou, who had picked out chairs at the kitchen table.

"How are you two so incompetent?"

"Look," Genma said, "Taking care of babies wasn't in the job description. Well, okay, it was, but in the knife in the dark sense, not the piss all over your uniform sense. Do you know how much laundry I've had to do?"

"So much laundry," Raidou affirmed. "You don't deal with most of it because Naruto-kun actually seems to like you, which is a concept so far above my pay grade that I'm not going to bother."

Kakashi snorted. He knew he wasn't the easiest person to get along with, and he didn't mind. "What I don't understand is why Hokage-sama is getting me involved in his political disputes. I couldn't give less of a shit, and why should I?"

Mikoto let that settle in the air for a few heartbeats. "We love our children, too. Sasuke and Itachi don't deserve to be orphaned, if the village even decided to spare them."

Kakashi looked down at the baby in his arms, and realized he had been gently petting Naruto's blond locks. "Huh."

He hadn't yet allowed himself to think about what would happen if Konoha came for Naruto, if Konoha needed the baby dead. But hell, he was thinking about it now, and the conclusion he came to resulted in an extreme paradigm shift. Konohagakure had always come first in his heart before, it had to, if he wanted to stay alive.

Then again, he hadn't always had the power of a Tailed Beast at his disposal. If it came down to it, Kakashi realized with conviction, he would become a missing-nin before he let the geezers on the council harm Naruto.

"Why did you come?" he finally asked Mikoto, because she had given him her time and her insight, despite the fact that every Uchiha hated him.

The creases around her eyes softened. "It was the least I could do. Kushina-sama and I had been friends, and I don't want to be reamed out in the afterlife for letting her son be killed by amateurs."

"Hey," Genma protested mildly.

"Anyway, I think they put too much on you kids' shoulders. If you need my help again, I suppose I could be bothered to come. Sasuke-kun could use a playmate his age." She stood up, bowed shallowly to Kakashi, and left.

* * *

Kakashi tied on his hitai-ate, at least six kunai hidden about his person, and zipped up his jounin vest. It had been a while since he'd worn it, and the protection it offered no longer felt complete or wholly necessary. A well-placed shot could still kill or incapacitate, but the Kyuubi's banked tsunami of chakra made him feel tempted to call himself invincible. He had to remind himself that he wasn't, so that he wouldn't take unnecessary risks in the field, so he took out a kunai and pricked the tip of his left pointer finger, watching the blood seep lazily out.

Alive and mortal, but most importantly, human. Kakashi's humanity had never been all that important to him before. He was the killing tool to be wielded by Konoha, and nothing more. Nothing else mattered. In his meditation, however, he found himself having to confront emotions long-buried, just so the Kyuubi couldn't twist them to his advantage. He had to find himself an anchor, something that held him down so that he wouldn't go completely insane on the battlefield and slaughter his allies as well as his enemies. There had been shinobi during the war that did that, when nothing was left for them but killing. They'd been called "berserkers", and certain jounin commanders coveted their talents.

Kakashi had only ever been sharp steel and precise control, following in Minato's wake and learning everything he could. Many had suspected why he wore the mask- he had bad acne, he had buck teeth, he had awful scarring- but none had come close to the truth. Nobody was scared of a five-year-old with a kunai. It got him taken seriously and allowed him to hide his emotions before he learned to bury his problems. Kakashi could probably get by without it, now, but he had been wearing it for nearly twice as long as he hadn't, and he wanted to be able to live outside of the shadow of his father's legacy.

His finger still bled sluggishly. The ache had ceded to a dull pulse, but he didn't want to catch an infection, so he taped some gauze to it.

Kakashi looked in the bedroom mirror one last time, adjusted his hitai-ate, and set out for his first ever shift on the Wall. During the war, when he was first promoted to jounin, he had been too busy captaining missions to while away ten hours looking out at Shodai's forest. He passed by Chiriko-taichou on the way out, who was bottle-feeding Naruto.

Her panther mask tipped up. "Heading out, kid? I hope you packed some rat bars."

"I'm not a genin, I know what I need to pack for a job."

"Just checkin'. It'd be remiss of me not to nag you." Naruto squirmed in her arms and she shushed him.

"Have you ever considered raising kids?" Kakashi surprised himself with the need to question her.

She just laughed. "I'm only twenty-two, I think it's a little early for me to be having kids. Maybe eventually, but my career is too important right now."

"So you do want them."

"You can play twenty questions with me later, kid, because if you don't leave now you'll be late."

Kakashi didn't look at the wall clock, he just walked outside, leapt up to his roof, and translocated to the base of the southern part of the Wall in two successive jumps. He ran up the vertical side of the Wall, flaring his chakra in a controlled burst before cresting the top. Kakashi technically had commander status and therefore could check himself in, but since he had been on medical leave for the past month, it was probably wise to let the other officer on duty know he was here.

He found Inuzuka Tsume on the south-southeast border chewing out two chuunin for smoking on duty. He waited until she was done before saluting her and making his presence known.

"Hatake reporting for duty, Inuzuka-taichou."

Tsume faces him with an amused smile. "Look who finally decided to join us lowlives here on the Wall. Was doing the Hokage's paperwork too boring for you, Hatake-sama?"

"Extremely," Kakashi joked along, despite not having done anything of the sort. "I was there for so long I could've sworn my hair was graying."

Tsume barked a laugh, sounding more canine than human, and there was a glow in her eyes when she looked at Kakashi. "Glad to know you're in fighting form. People were beginning to think you died."

Kakashi snorted. "It takes a lot more than chakra exhaustion to kill me. Speaking of fighting form, is Kuromaru out sick?"

"Nah, he's looking after Kiba and Hana for me. Those two are a handful on a good day."

It seemed to Kakashi that all of his colleagues in their mid-to-late twenties were having babies, but that was neither here nor there. "Well, the next time he's with you I can summon my ninken. Pakkun always complains that I don't summon him enough, but I don't have the chakra to be spending on it."

Kakashi shrugged, turning to face the forest, and the realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. He quickly rearranged his expression to be neutral and considered the possibility that he now had the chakra reserves to be able to summon his ninken all of the time.

This section of the forest had been destroyed during the Kyuubi's rampage, and rebuilding was slow because there were no remaining shinobi in Konoha who could use Wood Release, so more shinobi were stationed here than usual. As expected, the shift was boring, and Konoha was safe for another night. Kakashi, however, would rather be paid for doing nothing than do nothing at home.

He took a roundabout path, relishing in his rediscovered freedom, but something sharp tugged at his senses. It was kind of like chakra, but not quite. Baser.

 _You feel that?_ Kakashi asked the Kyuubi.

 _Yeah, brat. That's fear, and a lot of it. If you don't wanna be castrated, you should just go home and forget you ever felt anything._

Kakashi was not good at taking advice. He followed the prickling sensation in his pathways through sketchier streets in the redline district until it became overwhelming and he clamped down on his chakra, but he could smell the fear, now. It was all too familiar, overlain with the scents of sweat, blood, piss, and shit. The war had smelled worse than this, but not by much.

A dilapidated nightclub sat over the locus of the scent. Kakashi concealed himself in a genjutsu, steeled his nerves, and snuck inside.

The interior of the ground floor looked average. It was time to look underneath. Some of the floorboards near the right wall creaked, like the building's supports hadn't yet settled. Kakashi pulled up his hitai-ate, throwing the world into black and blue. There was a ward there, infused with chakra and humming with recent use. Kakashi swallowed, formed the seals he needed, and slid like a wraith into the sewers. He retched, nose protesting, and pulled his mask down to vomit quickly and soldierlike.

Unfortunately, finding the source of all of that grating energy required the use of his nose. He sniffed carefully, and followed the pipes in a circuitous pattern that eventually led to another trapped entrance, easily disengaged.

Kakashi dropped through the floor, landing in a shower of sewage, and reeled at what he saw. Children, dozens of them, lying on cots in overcrowded cells. Some were bleeding, still others looked to be on their deathbed, but the reek of fear was unmistakeable. He heard the distant click of a cane on concrete and scrambled up to camouflage himself on the ceiling, cursing himself for not creating shadow clones. He didn't even dare let his breath make any noise.

After what felt like forever, Danzou stopped in front of the cells, and seemed to approve of what he saw. "Kinoe, front and center."

A skinny young child with long brown hair, probably no older than ten, stepped forward and dipped into a bow. "Hokage-sama. What is your will for me?"

"You have proven yourself capable of terrible things. I'm giving you this task because I believe you can complete it. Don't worry too much about how long it takes - I want this done right." Danzou leaned down and Kakashi strained his ears, only barely able to catch what came next. "I order you to assassinate Sarutobi Hiruzen. You will succeed, or you will never return here."

"Understood, Hokage-sama," the boy murmured. He straightened with a salute, and Danzou disengaged the chakra limiters on the cell to let him out. Kakashi tracked the path the boy took with his Sharingan and filed it away for later.

"Don't just laze around," Danzou scolded the rest of the inmates. "If you aren't dead you should be training."

Many small bodies heaved up from cots and began stretching out bruised limbs. Seemingly satisfied, Danzou walked back the way he came. Kakashi waited until he could no longer hear his scraping cane, and then he waited some more, to make sure the man had left. He took care to move soundlessly, retracing the path that Kinoe had taken. The concrete floor turned to dirt, gradually sloping up, and then Kakashi was stepping out of a bush and onto the training fields in the stark light of day. He wouldn't have been able to sense the pathway if he didn't already know it was there, even with his Sharingan.

Realizing he was a) late, b) coated in refuse, and c) about to be even later, Kakashi mentally prepared himself for a very long lecture. He maintained the chameleon genjutsu as he ran towards Hokage Palace, but he let go of the heavy clamp on his chakra, feeling it balloon out and alert him of the presence of other shinobi.

 _Kurama, how far can you sense fear?_

 _Further than you'll need to sense it today, kit. I can also sense anger and hatred, if you want a different flavor. I'm going to say it, too, I fucking told you so. You're in way over your head._

 _I will not stand by and let another Hokage die on my watch. Hell, I don't even like Sarutobi, but he's still better than Shimura._

 _As long as I get to murder something soon, I'm good._

Kakashi rolled his eyes and stopped on a rooftop. He tore off his soiled gloves and twisted a quick water jutsu to sluice his hands, then found himself a rat bar in a waterproof pocket, thankfully untouched by sludge. After a deep breath, he extended his chakra sense, entwined with the Kyuubi's, and searched for a pinprick in a sea of gentle eddies.

There - sliding through a lower window of Hokage Palace - were the barely concealed jagged edges. Kakashi smothered his own chakra again and translocated in one clean jump. He got there in time to see through the genjutsu of a closed window. Kinoe's foot was slipping inside and Kakashi had barely enough time to make a decision. He grabbed the boy's foot and yanked him back out of the window, pinning his hands together with an armbar and using his left hand to flip the boy's mask off and keep his mouth open, in case he had a suicide tooth.

The fear rolling off of Kinoe in waves was overwhelming. It made Kakashi's nose want to quit his face, having had its share for the day. Both of them were still concealed under their own genjutsus, and no passerby noticed a thing. Kinoe struggled and bucked up against Kakashi's grip, but Kakashi had at least half a meter and twenty kilos on him, so his efforts were futile.

"I'm going to pull your tooth now. It's going to hurt," Kakashi said, low in his throat. He ran his fingers along Kinoe's teeth until he found one that wasn't the right texture, just a little too smooth. Careful not to burst the capsule, he wrenched his fist and tugged. It came free, he tossed it amongst the bushes, and the boy didn't even make a sound.

That crisis averted, Kakashi took out his stock of rope and tied Kinoe's hands behind his back, gripping the opposite arms so that he couldn't make handseals. He should probably take the boy to the Hokage, but he hadn't slept in over twenty-six hours, dammit, and he needed a shower in the worst way.

So, of course, he walked right up to the Hokage's office, attempted assassin in tow.

Kinoe hadn't moved or said a thing, glassy eyes staring straight ahead. It was the look of someone who had lost everything, and Kakashi understood it well. If he did anything today, rescuing a ten-year-old from a suicide mission wasn't half bad.

Kakashi dropped the genjutsu and knocked on the office doors, which swung open to reveal a befuddled Hiruzen.

"Hatake - what? What the fuck? You smell like you took a swim in a toilet, and you've got a kid with you?!"

"I found him trying to make an assassination attempt, Hokage-sama. You probably have a few days before someone else tries, but I've had it up to here, so I'm going to take a long shower."

Hiruzen gave him a long look, then said, "Bring the child to TI."

Kakashi looked at Kinoe, who was standing eerily still. During the groping search of his mouth earlier, Kakashi had seen a curse seal on the back of Kinoe's tongue. The Sharingan confirmed that it would use paralysis to stop the boy from divulging information.

"With all due respect, no." Hiruzen raised his eyebrow, but Kakashi continued. "He has a curse seal on his tongue. You won't be getting anything from him, and since I have reasonable suspicion this was an inside job, it's better if we keep this under wraps for now."

"That doesn't excuse your verbal insubordination. Return here in twenty-four hours to push some papers for me."

Naruto probably needed him before Genma tore his hair out, so the Hokage, in Kakashi's opinion, could go suck a big one. He at least offered a real salute, this time.

"C'mon, troublemaker, you look like you need a nap," Kakashi said. Carrying Kinoe was unavoidable, so he made it quick and relatively painless by translocating in three quick jumps from a balcony to the gate of the Hatake estate. His huge chakra reserves didn't even feel depleted, but they were scraping along his pathways from sudden overuse. Maybe he needed a nap, too.

All three of Kakashi's ANBU guards materialized in front of the house the moment he opened the gate. Genma and Raidou flanked Chiriko-taichou on either side, arms crossed menacingly.

"Gods, Hatake, you stink worse than a herd of cows. Where the fuck have you been? I thought your shift was supposed to end at eight."

"It did," Kakashi said simply.

"Okay, if it did, why are you two hours late, covered in raw sewage, and toting a tyke in an ANBU costume?"

Kakashi sighed long-sufferingly and decided the impending headache was worth it if it got him in the shower faster. He called up the memories from his Sharingan and replayed them for his guards. Raidou tensed like he'd been slapped in the face.

After the illusion dissolved, Chiriko-taichou sounded slightly less angry. "For fuck's sake, brat. Did it ever occur to you that your life would be ten times easier if you stopped poking your nose in places it doesn't belong?"

"I thwarted an attack on the Hokage," Kakashi reminded her.

Chiriko snorted, the sound reverberating off of her mask strangely. "Didn't say it wasn't the right thing to do. I hope I don't have to remind you to be careful...Did you inform Sandaime-sama about this?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, because it was true.

Kakashi didn't need to see Chiriko's face to know that she was giving him a suspicious look. "Fine. Strip out here and burn your clothes so you don't track shit inside - but don't burn your jounin vest, we'll have to figure out something to do with that later. Shiranui, go make sure Naruto-kun doesn't need anything. Namiashi, escort the little terrorist to TI."

Kakashi stepped in front of Kinoe and let his killing intent swell. "I already told Hokage-sama 'no'. Taking him back will alert Danzou that he failed - if we keep him here, that buys us time to think up a plan. Kinoe-kun will stay with us."

Chiriko sized Kakashi up for a long time before she relented. "Suit yourself, kid, but he's your responsibility."

"I'll add it to the list," Kakashi replied, rolling his eye. "Hey, Kinoe-kun, you should get clean, too."

The boy gave him no indication that he'd heard. Kakashi knelt down and snapped his fingers in front of Kinoe's face, but the child didn't even flinch.

Kakashi put on his best I-am-your-commander-so-you-should-listen-to-me voice and rephrased the statement. "You are going to take a bath. It can be easy and painless, or extremely difficult. Your choice."

Finally, Kinoe's eyes flickered with something like recognition, acceptance of his current circumstances, and he looked at the ground. Kakashi was going to have to make sure he wasn't planning a second attempt on the Hokage's life.

"I do not wish to be in unnecessary pain," Kinoe admitted. His voice was scratchy and raw, like he had been crying, and hell, maybe he had been.

Kakashi nodded once, short and sharp, then led the boy around to the hose. He unzipped his flak vest and laid it tenderly on the ground, placing his hitai-ate on top, then stripped to his supportive black briefs. No need to traumatize the kid any further, after all. He felt the need to explain what he was doing as he loosened the tap, even though Kinoe was likely not an idiot, so he kept his mouth shut.

Kinoe scanned Kakashi with the professionalism of a shinobi, checking for weaknesses and hidden weapons. His eyes stopped at Kakashi's bent-double waistline, where the vague shape of Minato's seal was, but he had the intelligence not to question it, at the very least.

Kakashi burned his jounin blues with a flare of hot, but controlled, chakra, then sluiced himself and his remaining gear off with the hose. Kinoe was no longer looking at him, rather he seemed to be looking anywhere else. After Kakashi shut off the hose, he frowned at the vest and hitai-ate, then decided to bring them inside anyways, urging Kinoe to follow him with a meaningful look.

The boy carried himself with dignity as Kakashi strode to the bathroom. As soon as Kakashi shut the door behind them, Kinoe caught and held his gaze.

"Yes?" Kakashi said with lazily raised eyebrows, already halfway out of his briefs.

"You really aren't going to turn me in?" Kinoe's face was contorted in such a way that a ten-year-old's face never should be. "Why?"

Kakashi shrugged, then knelt down to untie Kinoe's hands. "There's no reason to. It would be a wasted effort, with that curse seal."

"Then you should at least kill me, for trying to assassinate your Hokage." Kinoe flexed his stiff fingers, pointedly looking at Kakashi.

"Normally, that's the correct punishment for a traitor, but you're not formally on Konoha's roster. I'm willing to let this slide because I've got bigger fish to fry. A hell of a lot bigger." Kakashi turned around in a demonstration of trust and set about drawing up a bath. When he heard nothing further from Kinoe, he glanced back at him. "Are you going to bathe in your clothes?"

Kinoe was silent for a little while, but then he shook his head, shucking his clothes and armor off and laying them neatly on the floor. Kakashi's heart twanged when he realized just how small the armor was, and how skinny Kinoe was. Ten-year-olds were often genin and chuunin, adults in the eye of the law, but the youngest person in ANBU was currently sixteen, and Kakashi had been slated for it at fourteen. He wondered whether Danzou was simply desperate, or if the children he was recruiting were truly that skilled.

Kakashi sat on the wooden stool, peeled his soiled mask off, and mulled this over while he scrubbed himself raw. He felt a flare of chakra behind him, followed by the characteristic soft plunk of wood on tile, and when he glanced around, there was a stout stool with Kinoe on top of it.

"Mokuton, huh? Cool," Kakashi said approvingly, dumping the wash water over his head. He refilled the bucket for Kinoe and dug around the linen closet for two clean washcloths. One was tossed at the boy, but Kakashi lay the other over his mouth and nose as he reclined in the tub, eyes closed, but still maintaining his awareness of his new roommate.

There was no way Kakashi was going to let Kinoe have his own room. At least, not yet.

* * *

Feeling freshly scoured, Kakashi fetched loose sweatpants and a tank top for himself and an extra set of jounin blues for Kinoe to wear. He had to cuff both the shirt and the pants, but it would do for now.

"Follow me. I need to go check on Naruto-kun." Kakashi started off towards the end of the hall and he didn't need to look back to know that Kinoe was tiptoeing behind him. Chiriko-taichou was sleeping, still and soldierly, on her bedroll in the living room. Genma and Raidou were probably doing perimeter checks, as Naruto was alone in the nursery.

Kakashi felt his lips quirk up at the sight of the sleeping infant. He stepped up to the crib and ruffled his fingers through Naruto's blond tufts of hair, which made Naruto's eyes pop open - so big and blue that they made Kakashi's heart ache with the memory of a matching pair. He couldn't resist picking him up and cradling him close. The baby's warm, solid weight was a comfort after everything.

"Hey, Naruto-kun," he cooed, leaning in close. "You wouldn't believe the night I've had."

Kinoe looked between the two of them, then asked, "May I hold him?"

Kakashi answered with a snarl before he could stop himself, possessive and animalistic. "No. Only my ANBU and I can touch Naruto-kun. He's mine- he's my responsibility."

The little emotion that had been on Kinoe's face was shuttered away. "I see."

"Good." Kakashi rocked Naruto gently to put him back to sleep, then replaced him in his crib and turned to face Kinoe. "It's bedtime."

When Kakashi led Kinoe back to his room, he found a bedroll already set out with a blanket and pillow at the foot of his bed. "Looks like that's yours. I have Wall Duty at 2200, so my ANBU can field any questions. Wake me before 2100 and get shanked."

"Understood, Hatake-taichou," Kinoe said, saluting him, which made Kakashi snort derisively.

"Just 'Hatake' is fine, I'm not on duty right now." Kakashi stifled a yawn as he climbed in bed.

Kinoe nodded and shimmied down under his blankets, passing out as soon as his head hit the pillow. Kakashi realized he was smiling, and tried to rearrange his face into something more neutral. Sleep didn't come as quickly for him, as he wondered where this streak of possessiveness had come from. Hatake Kakashi, professional assassin and babysitter extraordinaire.


	5. Supernova

After two months of careful investigation, the Hokage had gathered enough evidence to convict Danzou of treason. If Danzou was smart, he'd have left Konoha after Kinoe disappeared, but he must have been prepared to sacrifice a few kids, so long as he believed nothing could be traced back to him.

Kakashi was going to enjoy this.

Kakashi had opted for a tight, sleeveless bodysuit despite the cold weather, since this wasn't a sanctioned mission and the Kyuubi's chakra kept him warm. He had been watching Danzou's routines for two weeks. The old man lived on the outskirts of town in a small shack of a home. He woke at dawn and started his morning with a walk to Hokage Palace to pester whoever was wearing the hat with his grandiose plans for consolidating power and clan genocide, where he stayed until he was pointedly asked to go home. To Kakashi's surprise, Danzou rarely visited the underground holding cells, which made him think that there must be an accomplice or two doing the gruntwork. Danzou never sat for meals, preferring instead to subsist on rat bars. He went to bed around midnight every night.

Killing him would be easy for any jounin worth their hitai-ate, but Kakashi had been waiting for the right moment. He looked at his watch, then nodded at his kage bunshin.

At exactly 2330, they entered Danzou's house under the guise of a careful genjutsu. It was important to cloak even the air currents eddying behind them - as someone as paranoid as Danzou was likely to notice. Kakashi's clone, still concealed, lifted Danzou out of his chair, pinned him to the wall with an arm across his neck, and kicked his feet out from under him.

Kakashi dropped the illusion, and Danzou struggled for purchase on the smooth skin of the clone's bare arms, eyes wide with rage. He leaned in close, scenting the fear on Danzou's neck, and chuckled lightly.

"Hokage-sama has found proof of your treason," Kakashi said, low enough that his voice wouldn't carry. "Intel is prepared to issue an S-rank briefing within the week. Sandaime-sama and the shinobi in ANBU will believe that I assassinated a traitor. The rest of the village will believe you died of natural causes. You and I, however, we'll know what you really died for."

Danzou only fought harder, but Kakashi stepped closer, unveiling a fistful of senbon. "You really should have been more paranoid," Kakashi hummed, flicking off the light in the study like he had seen Danzou do for several weeks. "It would've been more fun."

Kakashi shoved senbon into Danzou's neck, wrenched them up, and the man froze. The clone let him slump to the floor and Kakashi searched the house, flicking on lights in a pattern he had memorized like the back of his hand.

In the upper tank of the toilet there was a waterproof safe, which Kakashi examined for traps before sealing into a scroll. He felt about ready to crawl out of his skin, but there was one more thing to do before he could leave. Back in the study, he took the senbon out of Danzou's neck and sealed the minuscule punctures in his skin with a wound glue.

Kakashi dismissed his clone and sealed the windows after exiting so that there would be no signs of forced entry, and then he ran. He didn't stop running until the foliage grew thicker, and he felt the rasping chakra of Things That Should Not Exist.

It felt like home, to a part of him.

That part of him wanted to run back to Danzou's house and desecrate his body. It wanted to run straight up to Hokage Palace and confront Hiruzen for allowing something so despicable to keep happening- the Hokage _knew_ ROOT existed, he knew and had done nothing.

And just like when Obito died under his command, when Rin got captured and made the Three-Tails' jinchuuriki, when the Kyuubi was ripped from Kushina, Kakashi was forced to pick up the pieces.

The first creature to fall victim to Kakashi's pent up rage was a five-meter-long centipede. He sliced its carapace open with his white-hot tanto and the White Fang's bloodline. Where the beast's blood spattered, his skin went numb, and Kakashi growled in frustration. His pulse pounded in his ears.

 _C'mon, kit,_ the Kyuubi urged, _there's no one else around. Let's have some fun._

Kakashi had to double-check for himself. Upon a cursory chakra sweep, there was nobody within a kilometer of his position. He slid his tanto back into its sheath, flexed his fists, and let his emotions flood his brain. It was a wordless call, and the Kyuubi responded in kind, sending fire surging through his pathways.

Kakashi dropped to all fours. A feral snarl built in his lungs and the undergrowth crumbled to ash beneath his hands and feet. His prey ran fast, but he was faster. Again and again, Kakashi brought creatures to the ground, ripping with his claws and tearing with his teeth. A six-legged bear here, a lizard with four eyes and three tongues there, he left a trail of death in his wake as snow began to fall.

The sun rose on a scene of carnage and felled trees. Kakashi hid himself in the shadows, hissing at the cloud-filtered light. Gradually, the Kyuubi's chakra retreated, leaving him with burnt raw skin, a parched throat, and tattered clothes. His mask was missing, and he was cold.

A green form loomed over him, and Kakashi realized that he had no idea how long he had been sitting there. The world felt like it was packed in cotton balls. Kakashi tried to draw his tanto, but then he blinked, and he was looking at the canopy of trees rushing above him.

"What," Kakashi rasped.

"Your guards sent me in to get you, since you haven't hurt me too badly before. I'm taking you to the hospital." Gai was silent for a moment longer, then said, "It looks like you expended a lot of Youthful energy, back there. I understand if you cannot tell me, but if you can, I'd be willing to shoulder some of the burden of your pain."

Kakashi's brain was still processing the fact that Gai was carrying him, so he closed his eyes and drifted off again.

When he came to, he was in a hospital bed, his surroundings slowly filtering in - an IV in his elbow, Gai asleep on the chair, a chilling draft curling over his jaw -

Kakashi slapped a hand over his face and found it bare. Panic grasped him like a vise and he couldn't get enough air in his lungs. That meant that Gai, some nurses, and countless other shinobi had seen his face. He gasped for breath, free arm flailing wildly, and he ended up smacking Gai, who awoke with a start and arrested Kakashi's grip.

Gai scanned the room for threats, finding none. His sizable brows creased when his eyes landed on Kakashi.

"My mask," Kakashi wheezed, hand fisting in Gai's ever-present green jumpsuit, "Gai, where's my mask?"

Gai's eyes widened in understanding. He detangled Kakashi's hand from his shirt and rushed over to the medical supply closet, where he rummaged for some time before producing a box of disposable allergy masks. "My apologies, Eternal Rival. I should have thought of this sooner, but the nurses kept returning to check your vitals, and they wanted your airways unobstructed."

Kakashi regarded the box with disdain, but beggars can't be choosers, so he sighed and settled one over his face. A flimsy barrier, but a barrier nonetheless. Kakashi looked anywhere but at Gai while his breathing slowed. He should probably thank Gai for trying to help, but he couldn't make the words come.

"I feel like something greater than the Spirit of Youth caused you to level an entire acre in the Forest of Death," Gai said carefully.

"I was being careless," Kakashi admitted, voice clipped. "It won't happen again."

 _Fucker,_ the Kyuubi growled at him.

 _Shut it, asshole_ , Kakashi growled right back. _I just got mission permissions back and now I'm laid up in the hospital with second degree burns on every inch of my skin._

Gears were turning behind Gai's eyes. "Something big happened last night. All of the shinobi in the village were told this morning that Shimura Danzou died of a heart attack, due to a blood clot in his neck."

Kakashi set his jaw. "A pity." And it was, only because he deserved so much worse.

Gai watched him for a while before saying, "I trust you, Kakashi, and I know I don't have to tell you to be careful."

A familiar chakra signature flared before the door burst open, producing the captain of his ANBU guard detail and a harried nurse. Kakashi winced at the strain on his overtaxed senses.

"I don't see why this couldn't have waited until after he was recovered, Panther-taichou," the nurse berated.

Chiriko crossed her arms over her chest and stared Kakashi down from behind her porcelain mask. "Because Hatake's a reckless idiot, is why. I'd like to have a chat with him."

 _Alone_ , Kakashi finished in his head. The nurse rolled her eyes and left. Gai gave him a thumbs up as he went, his teeth seeming to shine under the florescent lights.

Chiriko shut the door behind them and stalked over to Kakashi's bedside. "Care to explain to me why it looks like the Kyuubi went on a rampage in the Forest of Death?"

Feeling either immensely brave or immensely stupid, Kakashi met her eyes. "Because I did. I know you were tailing me last night, so you know what I did. It's not like I didn't remain professional until I got somewhere safe, and I _chose_ to let the Kyuubi influence me so he would finally shut up for a few hours."

 _Don't say you don't like talking to me, brat_ , the Kyuubi nearly purred, obviously still pleased with the destruction wrought.

Blatantly ignoring him, Kakashi kept his focus on Chiriko, who sighed. "Look, kid. The shinobi doing a perimeter sweep in that area thought that the Kyuubi had returned to attack the village. You can understand why everyone's a little jumpy, especially since _nobody is supposed to know you've got a godsdamned bijuu sealed in you_."

Kakashi wouldn't say he had forgotten that, but the extent of his carelessness was proving to be far greater than he expected. "Perhaps," he said slowly, "I should talk to Hokage-sama about giving me special training permissions."

Chiriko snorted. "If you weren't in the hospital I'd smack you upside the head, but you might as well ask Hokage-sama for therapy, while you're at it."

It was clear she had said it in jest, but that drew Kakashi's drug-addled train of thought to a resounding halt. He knew that somewhere in the bowels of T&I was Konoha's psychology department, but it went against everything he ever learned to just spill his emotions on the floor in front of someone else. They were better off cordoned off and closely monitored, because any emotion was a weakness on a mission.

Kakashi just rolled his eye at her.

Now that he was conscious of his chakra and that of the surrounding shinobi, it felt like his skin was getting hotter by a degree or two. His coils ached and screamed at him, but as Kakashi lifted a hand to his face, the blisters smoothed out ever slowly. He had a feeling that he would be healing more quickly if he wasn't also suffering coil damage.

And wasn't that something.

 _Hey, asshole_ , Kakashi thought at the bijuu, though there was a lack of malice in it. _Do you have something to do with this?_

 _Oh, so you're done ignoring me? Yeah, I can accelerate your healing, but I can't do shit about the coil damage. Sorry, kit. 'S why they normally put me in an Uzumaki, but seeing as the only one around can barely sit up on his own..._

 _You're stuck with me,_ Kakashi thought wryly as he watched the skin on his hands turn from scabby red to a fresh pink. At that, he looked up at Chiriko-taichou expectantly.

"You just keep getting weirder and weirder, kiddo," she grumbled, shaking her head. "I guess there's no reason for you to stay... Sit tight, I'll get the doctor to come check you out."

She wasn't even gone for a minute before she returned with a plump woman in green scrubs, Riku-sensei, if he remembered right, who looked at Kakashi with a pinched expression.

"Amazing," she murmured at his bedside, turning his hand over. "Kushina-sama was the same way. I wonder if it's just the Kyuubi, or if the other jinchuuriki can heal, as well..."

"Can I go home now?" Kakashi asked. Chiriko-taichou looked very close to following up on her promise of slapping him and cleared her throat.

Kakashi's mouth turned down underneath his mask, and he rephrased the question. "Riku-sensei, may I please go home?"

"Hm?" she said, still marveling at the new skin. "I suppose I could allow it, but no jutsu for a week." When Kakashi opened his mouth to protest, she stared him down with a look that could even put a Kage to shame. "That's an order, Hatake."

"Yes, Riku-sensei," Kakashi said, cowed. Once she unhooked the IV from his arm and left, he threw his blankets to the floor and bolted for the door. Chiriko-taichou caught up with him before he made all the way out and dragged him back into the room. She shoved a pile of green hospital scrubs at him

"Put some goddamn clothes on, kid. I don't care what kind of crazy chakra you have, it's still January, and I don't want to have to haul you back for getting frostbite."

Kakashi blinked, then looked down. "Huh."

The medics must have stripped him down completely to begin healing his burns, and under the influence of painkillers, he had failed to notice. When Kakashi was finally decent, Chiriko-taichou shunshin'ed them outside before translocating to the Hatake Estate. It took him longer than usual to get his bearings, but he eventually made his way inside.

Kinoe was sitting at the kotatsu with a cup of tea. As Kakashi passed by him, he said, "The seal on my tongue is gone. You killed Danzou, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Kakashi replied, voice monotone.

Kakashi started towards the nursery, but not before he heard Kinoe say, "Thank you," almost inaudibly. He forced himself to keep walking despite the unnamed feelings curling in his gut.

Kakashi relaxed at the sight of Naruto safe in his crib and carefully lifted the baby into his arms. Naruto's eyes fluttered open and Kakashi found himself transfixed by a gaze as blue as the summer sky. With a shaking hand, he nudged Naruto's small fingers.

"Ka-Ka," Naruto babbled, wrapping his fingers around Kakashi's.

Kakashi's heart clenched and his breath caught in his throat. He leaned against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. It felt like his throat was closing up on him, and he couldn't breathe, so he buried his face in Naruto as the sobs wracked his body. The allergy mask soaked up his tears and snot as he cried, and Naruto's bottom lip trembled as if he was about to cry, too.

Chiriko-taichou opened the door slowly. "Hey, kid, what's wrong?"

Kakashi just shook his head and choked on another sob. He didn't _know_ what was wrong, which was part of the problem.

"What happened?" She stepped fully into the room, tilting up her ANBU mask to avoid scaring Naruto further.

"He...he said my name!" Kakashi managed to gasp out, coughing, the flimsy allergy mask thoroughly soiled. Naruto finally broke from whimpering into a full cry.

"Right. Well, you're just upsetting him more, so why don't you go wipe the snot off of your face and I'll see if I can't calm him down." Chiriko-taichou held out her arms expectantly.

Kakashi hiccuped, but handed Naruto over and lurched upright to shuffle into the bathroom. He tore off the allergy mask in disgust, then splashed himself with ice-cold water from the sink. He felt a little better when he found a backup cloth mask in the cabinet, but there was a soft knock on the bathroom door.

"Yes?" Kakashi asked with suspicion.

Genma stood there in his smiling Tanuki mask and ANBU blacks, but there was no smile in his voice. "Mission for you," he said, holding out the scroll.

Kakashi snatched it out of his hand and popped the wax seal.

 _Rank: A_  
 _Expected Duration: One month or more as needed_  
 _Destination: Northwestern Border of (allied) Plains Country with (enemy) Earth Country_  
 _Objective: Provide support to frontline shinobi and demonstrate Konoha's military strength._

Normally, a mission would have Kakashi chomping at the bit, but all he felt was a stone sinking in the pit of his stomach.

"When do they expect me to leave?" Kakashi's voice was thick.

"As soon as you're cleared by the medic. Koi and Otter will be accompanying you," Genma said.

Kakashi was sure he wasn't imagining the envy in Genma's voice. "Is your team staying to take care of Naruto-kun?"

"No. You'll have to find a sitter, because we're getting pulled back into the regular team rotation."

For the second time that day, Kakashi was falling fast, but this time there was nobody to take the burden from him. He burnt the scroll with a controlled chakra flare, belatedly remembering that he wasn't supposed to be using chakra when his hand cramped in protest.

Kakashi pushed past Genma, walked to his bedroom, and slammed the door shut.


	6. Neutron Star

Kakashi had never refused a mission before, especially not one that was explicitly ordered by the Hokage. Sure, he'd disobeyed orders, like the one that would have kept him in the safehouse with the other young jounin while his village was being ravaged, but he knew what side his bread was buttered on. Ultimately, he was a skilled shinobi who needed to pay for food and rent, so he did what was asked of him.

Until Obito died in that cave by Kannabi Bridge, and he killed Rin, and Kakashi learned the importance of holding the people he loved close by having them ripped away from him.

Now, Naruto and Kinoe were the only ones left, and Kakashi was going to be away from them for potentially months. Kakashi hit his head against the wall as his mind plagued him with worst case scenarios.

What if the babysitter was inept and killed Naruto? What if Kinoe snapped without Kakashi there to keep an eye on him and killed Naruto, then himself?

Bile rose in Kakashi's throat, faster than he could handle, and he choked, vomiting up water and stomach acid and nothing else onto the floor of his bedroom. He sat there, sweaty and panting, unable to address the moral quandary spinning out in front of him.

He couldn't refuse the Hokage's orders. Not as a member of the rank and file, and certainly not as a jinchuuriki, leadership position or no. On the other hand, Naruto and Kinoe needed him around, or at least his ANBU guards, and they were leaving.

The decision was to disregard orders and be branded a traitor just like his father, or to follow them and drive himself sick with worry and be too anxious to carry out the mission properly anyways.

Kakashi tucked his head between his knees and counted his breaths until the panic attack that was climbing up his spine subsided.

* * *

"Buck up, kiddo," Tsume said, smacking Kakashi on the back hard enough to make him stumble. Kuromaru's tongue lolled out of his mouth in canine laughter. Kakashi glared at them both, but took the cup of coffee she was offering. "Look, we've gotta be here no matter what, right? You can't keep being pissed about it."

"I can, and I will." Kakashi sipped at his coffee as he watched the sun rise over the grassy plains and bravely didn't cringe at the taste.

It had taken them five days to reach the border of Grass Country from Konoha, and another two to reach Grass's border with Earth. The previous night was spent in a heavily warded camp tent barely one kilometer from the border, so Kakashi was already jumpy given the circumstances.

Kakashi bravely didn't think about Naruto and Kinoe being left to be cared for by Mikoto. Naruto was a normal baby, so he should be fine, but he was Kakashi's, and he really didn't want to mess this up by hiring the wrong sitter. Kinoe, on the other hand, even Kakashi could see was damaged, and he was still unpredictable at the best of times.

(Not to mention that Kakashi was spending money to have Mikoto look after them, and his wallet was starting to hurt.)

He downed the rest of his coffee, helped Tsume pack up camp, and pushed those thoughts out of his mind.

* * *

The mission lasted another five weeks. Kakashi and Tsume swept the Northwestern border of Grass Country twice, which was boring, tedious work, except for a minor incident with a Kusa genin team that only served to rattle Kakashi's nerves. The Kyuubi strained against Kakashi's control, trying to goad him into killing something bigger than the pheasants he hunted, and Kakashi ached for a brutal fight with Iwa-nin that never came.

Back in the village, Kakashi still wasn't able to see his two charges, yet. He staked out an entire couch to himself at the Jounin Standby Station and didn't move from the spot for hours.

"You'd think a village relying on the protection of trees would abuse paperwork less," Kakashi muttered as he filled out his mission reports (in triplicate!) in increasingly illegible chicken scratch. He yawned and rubbed his bloodshot eyes, checking his work before deeming it acceptable and sealing it into three separate envelopes.

He cracks open the window and waves down the first genin he sees. "Hey! I have a D-rank for you."

A young girl with dark skin and darker box braids scurried up to the window and saluted him. "Kitami Hanako, reporting for duty, Hatake-san. What do you need?"

"I'll pay you two-thousand ryo to deliver these to Shenzou for me," Kakashi said, handing over the envelopes and the cash. His thinning wallet protested. "I'll even pay you up front, since I'm in a hurry."

The disappointment at running a lazy jounin's errands only showed in the thinning of Hanako's lips and her spine stayed professionally straight. She tipped her chin up at him. "I'll get these to him right away, sir." Then, she sped off, feet barely making a sound on the cobblestone with the showings of rudimentary chakra control.

Kakashi leapt out the window and dashed off in the opposite direction, towards the Hatake estate, where he had told Mikoto to meet him. He could have translocated - he had plenty of chakra - but he was just so exhausted that he needed the run in the cold February air to wake him up.

When he arrived at his house to find that nothing was currently on fire, he wasn't inclined to take it as a good sign just yet. He pushed open the front door and the idyllic scene made his heart squeeze in his chest.

Mikoto was supervising from the couch while Naruto and Sasuke played with blocks on the floor. That wasn't surprising in and of itself, but it still settled something in Kakashi to see Naruto safe. What was surprising was not only that Kinoe was sitting on the floor and making more toys with his Mokutōn, but that he had a faint smile on his face.

From here, it seemed like everything wouldn't be so horrible. Kakashi closed the door and leaned against it. "I'm home."


End file.
